Robredo, Ferrero advance in Brazil

Spaniards Tommy Robredo and Juan Carlos Ferrero won first-round victories Tuesday at the Brasil Open.

Robredo, seeded second, breezed by Brazilian wild card Thiago Alves 6-4, 6-2. Ferrero, unseeded but a former world No. 1, ousted another Spaniard, third-seeded Albert Montanes, 6-7 (4-7), 6-2, 6-2.

In other first-round action, fourth-seeded Jose Acasuso defeated fellow Argentine Juan Monaco 7-6 (7-3), 6-4; seventh-seeded Nicolas Devilder of France eliminated Brazilian qualifier Daniel Silva 7-6 (7-5), 6-2; and Brazilian Thomaz Bellucci defeated eighth-seeded Italian Potito Starace 6-3, 6-4.

Argentine Brian Dabul, Uruguay’s Pablo Cuevas, Poland’s Lukasz Kubot, Italian Fabio Fognini, and Portuguese Frederico Gil and qualifier Rui Machado also reached the second round.

Top-seeded Nicolas Almagro of Spain, the defending champion, plays his second-round match Wednesday against Argentine Martin Vassallo Arguello.

This winner of this $562,500 clay-court event will claim $90,000.